


We Would Cover For Him

by Nanerich



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Arthur is a Prat, Drunken Revelations, Gen, Merlin is off duty, drunken jousting, hanging and drinking with the knights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2019-08-18
Packaged: 2020-09-08 03:43:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20299504
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nanerich/pseuds/Nanerich
Summary: Arthur is away for the night and miraculously did not ask Merlin to join him. Instead, the knights invite him out to the tavern and to enjoy his night off work.





	We Would Cover For Him

“Come on, Merlin, the other knights are in as well!”

“I am very clearly not a knight”, Merlin scoffed, as he continued scrubbing Arthur’s boots.

“You’re also not just a servant…” Lancelot winked at him, before continuing: “it’s just one day off. Arthur and Gwen won’t be back until tomorrow, so no need to worry…”

Merlin had to admit, it sounded like fun. Just a nice evening, maybe a jug of mead or two and no Arthur bossing him around. “Fine, I’m in.”

“Great!” Percival clapped his hands together. “So, I’ll see you at the tavern.”

.

“Alright, Gaius, I’m going out.”

“Oh?” Gaius raised his eyebrow.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m just going out.”

“Arthur’s away and Merlin will play…” Gaius said suggestively.

Just ignore him. “Have a good evening, Gaius!”

He definitively deserved a break. Arthur was even worse now that he was king, with his: “Merlin, do this” and “Merlin, do that!” He might be a king, but he was still a prat. But Merlin wouldn’t change his job for the world. And, even though he would never openly admit it, he really liked that arrogant clotpole.

A night off was still very much needed and definitively deserved. And a real night off, not a ‘Arthur doesn’t need him so he can do chores for Gaius’ night off, with the knights at the tavern. He felt actually really proud that the legendary knights of Camelot wanted him to join them and not just for cleaning their stuff.

“Merlin, over here!” Elyan waved him towards their table.

“Thanks.” He squeezed in between Lancelot and Leon, who patted his shoulder.

“So, Merlin, if you want to feel like a knight tonight, you have to drink like one.” Gwaine put a jug of ale in front of him. “Cheers!”

“Thanks.” He took a deep swig of the drink. Man, he never drank and didn’t really like the taste of it too much. Apparently, his face showed just that, the others started laughing.

“Don’t laugh, my job doesn’t give me the freedom to get used to drinking.”

“”Trust me, if Arthur knew all you do for him, he might give you a chance to…”, Lancelot snickered.

“No, you’re right, washing his pants is extremely heroic…” Percival started laughing.

Lancelot and Merlin just exchanged a glance. Merlin knew exactly what Lancelot’s suggestive shrug meant, and he really would have loved to show the others his abilities. But not now. He just shook his head.

“What is going on between you two?” Elyan looked between the two of them.

“Merlin, you can’t do that to Gwaine!” Sympathetically, Leon patted Gwaine’s shoulder, who theatrically clutched his chest.

“Why would you do that to me?”, he exclaimed melodramatically.

“When you started seeing Percival”, Merlin answered dryly.

“I am a knight, after all”, Percival threw in.

“You have just as much qualification to be a knight as Merlin.”

“Only reason I am not one is because Arthur knows that I would be unstoppable once I got to wear chainmail…”

“Nah, I think it’s because Arthur doesn’t trust Percy with his delicates…”, Lancelot laughed.

“He barely trusts me with that”, Merlin scoffed, “that clotpole.”

“Merlin! That is the king you’re talking about!”

“And my brother-in-law.”

“He’s still a clotpole”, Merlin grunted.

The rest of the table laughed. “You are the only person who can actually call him that to his face and get away with it…”

“That’s my charm. How do you think I got both Gwaine and Lancelot?”

.

Over the course of the evening, Merlin got rather used to the taste of alcohol. Or maybe he was getting more and more inebriated and didn’t care anymore… Either way, he was having a lot of fun.

“Merlin, what do you say to a little late-night-tournament?”

“You want to joust? Now?”

“Why not?” Gwaine got a bag of coins out of his pocket to pay for the drinks. “You could practise a bit and show off to the ruling clotpole…”

“Oh…” Merlin was really not sober anymore, because it actually sounded like a good idea to fight against five knights… “ok, sure.”

“Perfect. Let’s have some fun!”

.

“Alright, it’s collect rings. No horses, but we’re in the dark so it should be difficult enough”, Leon explained, only slurring his words a little bit. “Percival and Gwaine team up, Lancelot and Merlin are a team and Elyan is with me.”

“You sure, you can handle that pole?” Elyan quizzically raised his eyebrow, handing it to Merlin. It was really long, but he could handle dragons, he could handle a few rings.

“Sure, I’ll be fine.”

Percival and Gwaine went first. It was very funny watching them stumbling over the grounds, aiming for the targets. In the end they managed to get 8 of the 15 rings.

“Oof, that is pathetic!” Gwaine dropped on the ground, grunting discontented.

“That’s your fault! You said you could handle your liquor!”

“Whatever. Sir Leon, Sir the Queen’s Brother, you’re up.”

Clearly, those two weren’t as drunk as the first pair, but Merlin has definitively seen them be better than that… They managed to score ten targets, which was almost embarrassing for Leon, the most experienced of the knights.

“Ok, Merlin, you’re up. Can you manage?”

“Please.” He only swayed a little walking over to Lancelot who was already waiting for him.

“You got a trick up your sleeve?”, he whispered.

“Always”, Merlin nodded back. “Just do your best to aim, I’ll take care of the rest.”

Merlin’s telekinetic powers were perfect for this very situation. No murmuring of spells meant that the others didn’t hear anything and he could perfectly move the rings and spear-thingys close together. One after another he and Lancelot managed to get all fifteen rings, before smugly walking back to the rest.

“That… you’ve got to be kidding us.”

“Come on, you cheated.”

“How were we supposed to cheat?”, Lancelot shot back as innocently as possible.

“I don’t know”, Gwaine grumbled, “but I don’t believe you…”

“Sorcery!”, Merlin yelled, his best Uther-expression, only realizing a moment to late that it was probably a bad idea to bring up magic… But thankfully, the others were too drunk to realize.

“Rematch. Now.”

.

Turn after turn, Merlin’s powers got them the win. It felt incredible to beat the knights. Him using magic was only fair, they already had their status and experience as advantage.

“I’m done.” Elyan fell on the ground, looking defeated. “Merlin, apparently you’re a natural talent. Well done.”

“No, that’s purely beginner’s luck, nothing more”, Percival grumbled, before sitting down next to him.

“Or maybe I’m just better than you”, Merlin laughed, before dropping down himself. “You mind telling Arthur how awesome I am? Nah, he’ll never believe you…”

“Oh, poor Merlin!”

“No, no, you know Arthur really likes you.”

“More than us, probably.”

“No, he doesn’t”, Merlin grumbled.

“Damnit, he’s a grumpy drunk…”, Percival snickered.

“I’ve saved his life how many times? But all he has to say is ‘my boots are dirty, Merlin’, ‘clean my room, Merlin’, ‘let me beat you up and call it practise, Merlin’… Ugh. ‘Why are you afraid, Merlin?’, ‘Is there anyone as dumb as you, Merlin?’ Yeah, you… you royal arse!”

“Ok, ok.” Leon raised his hands carefully at Merlin, “maybe stop cussing the king out, before anyone accuses you of treason, you know…”

“What’d you mean with saving his life? That’s usually us.”

“No, it’s not”, Merlin sneered.

“Merlin, shh!”, Lancelot hissed.

“What’s going on?”

Oh shit. He’s done it. He talked himself into a corner. Worried, he looked at Lancelot, who only shrugged. He needed an excuse.

“You know, from slipping on dirty boots and stuff”, Merlin laughed nervously.

“Merlin? What’s going on?”

Well, this might as well happen. He could probably trust the others. Or at least he could trust them to give him a headstart to run away…

“I’ll show you if you don’t tell Arthur.”

“That bad, huh?”, Elyan joked, but dropped his grin, when he saw Merlin’s earnest face. “Ok, I promise. Just, don’t make me lie to my sister.”

“Alright, this stays between us, promise. Arthur won’t hear a word of this”, Leon decided and Percival and Gwaine nodded in agreement.

“Also, Merlin’s under my protection, from anyone, including all of you. Just so you know.” Ominously, Lancelot looked around the group.

Alright. Here goes nothing. Merlin took a deep breath before he felt his eyes lighting up and all the rings from their earlier game started to float towards them and stacked in their middle to a tower.

“You… you have magic?” Every one of them looked at him with huge eyes, clearly showing their shock.

“Yes. I was born like this. I’m also the last dragon lord, by the way.”

“Oh. Does anybody know?”

“Only Gaius.”

Silence fell over the group. Everybody was lost deep in their thoughts, trying to piece it together, trying to understand how they hadn’t recognized it. It was unbearable and Merlin had to break it.

“That’s why I can’t have you tell Arthur. But, if you have to, because you believe that Uther was right, please, for our friendship’s sake, give me a headstart at least.”

“Wait, you think we’d run you out of Camelot?”

Merlin shrugged. “I wouldn’t be the first.”

“Listen, you have done so much good with your powers. At some point you really have to tell us some of the stories! And don’t worry, we will never tell Arthur anything unless you want us to.” Leon patted his shoulder.

“Thank you.”

Wow. They actually took it really well. Merlin couldn’t help but smile. “I’m really happy you’re so… understanding.”

“Well, I imagine that the times you saved Arthur’s behind, you also saved ours.”

Merlin just smiled and winked at Elyan.

“I don’t know about you guys, but this feels like we deserve another round.”

“On you?”

“Whoever pays, I believe Merlin deserves to be invited. After all, you’re the reason we’re still alive and have a king. Even if he sometimes is a prat.”

.

“MEEEEEERLIN! Where is that idiot of a servant?”

“Sire, welcome back to Camelot.” Oh, why was he yelling like that? Merlin had a headache like never before.

“Merlin. Can you tell me what all this is?” Arthur pointed around the courtyard, where rings and staves from last nights games were laying all around.

“Apparently someone has made a mess and has not tidied it up.” There was no way, Arthur could think he did it. But of course, that didn’t matter.

“Well, Merlin, now you get to do that.”

“Oh, no, sire, there is no need, this is on us.” Leon came up from behind Arthur, followed by Elyan, Gwaine, Lancelot and Percival. “We decided to train yesterday and happily get our stuff.” He winked at Merlin and turned towards Arthur again.

“That’s what servants are for.”

“Well, Merlin, let us help you at least.” Lancelot walked over the grounds, picking up all rings in his way, and the others joined in, and only minutes later every last piece was collected.

Arthur stood in the middle, his mouth gaping open, and looking like he couldn’t really make out what was happening at the moment.

“I have to say, Merlin is a very talented jouster. He beat me out”, Leon said to Arthur.

“Yeah, right. Merlin couldn’t tell an arrow from a spear.” Arthur had his arms crossed over his chest raising his brows.

Alright, that was Merlin’s cue. No need to listen to Arthur cussing him out. “Sire, unless you need anything else, I was just about to muck out the stables.” After Arthur didn’t respond, Merlin just turned around and headed for the stables. Or at least going around the corner to listen in for just a moment…

“I’m sure Merlin would appreciate a ‘thank you’ every now and then. My lord”, Lancelot quickly added.

“What… Did my knights abandon me for my manservant?”

“We swore you our undying fealty”, Gwaine assured the king, “but if he ever were to kill you, we would cover for him.”


End file.
